Combining subtitle creation and subtitle alignment in foreign language teaching

Abstract

Subtitling and alignment can be used as didactic tools as they contribute to the development of the linguistic, intercultural and instrumental competences that constitute the translation competence. Thus, the aim of this work is to present a methodological framework for translator training using subtitling and alignment as two activities applicable in language teaching to foster students’ skills in a foreign language and their translation competence. Firstly, students are asked to transcribe the source subtitles of various video files and, afterwards, translate them into their mother tongue. Secondly, they are given the broadcasted source and target subtitles of several TV programs and nature documentaries to align them – these alignments will be later compiled into an electronic parallel corpus.